Breaking the Mold
by cobrafantasies
Summary: In this alternate world, society lives based on what is chosen for them. They are chosen their perfect mate, their most suitable job. There is no such thing as divorce, deceit, or even change. For years everyone has only accepted and lived by these rules until one day, Rachel questions her life and happiness.
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** Jen

 **Author's Note:** This is very different and will not be like the show at all, it's just taking the characters to an entirely different world. Let me know if you guys like it or if its just weird. :)

 **Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, I do not own anything or any of the characters

 **A/N:** This story is about an alternate world where society lives based on what is chosen for them. They are chosen their perfect mate, their most suitable job. There is no such thing as divorce, deceit, or even change. For years everyone has only accepted and lived by these rules until one day, Rachel questions her life and happiness.

* * *

Hello. My name is Rachel Farber, originally Rachel Green. I'm married to Barry Farber, who is an orthodontist. I work as a receptionist. For all my life, I accepted these facts, just lived by them, never even considered how I felt. No one ever asks how you feel about things or how you like your job because there would be no point. You will work at that job all your life and you will be with the same husband or wife for your entire life.

All my friends live the same, my friend Phoebe is married to a guy David. They seem genuinely happy. My best friend Monica is married to our other friend Chandler. They are probably the best couple I know and I'm not just saying that because they are both my friends. It's like they got to marry their best friend and I can feel how honestly happy they are. Monica's brother Ross is married to a woman named Carol. I think they are happy, I think Ross seems happier than Carol, but that's just the gut feeling I get around them. Then, there's me.

Once I was told Barry would be my husband, I never really thought about whether I liked him because you don't think about that here. One day it just hit me. I'm so bored. I'm bored with my job and Barry. I feel no excitement for anything, except maybe spending a day with my friends or shopping. Barry is boring and doesn't make me feel much of anything… even in bed. I guess it's always been that way, but I never thought about it. To be fair, there was always something distracting me. I was too excited for my wedding or to have sex for the first time. Also, I was so young. Usually, couples are matched to be married anywhere from 18 years old to 20 years old. I was matched and married with Barry by 16. I still don't know why I was matched early, but everyone always celebrates this, congratulates me on getting to start my life earlier than everyone else. I mean, it's true, you never even kiss someone until you are matched. It is very exciting; at least it seemed it at the time.

I've been feeling this way for months now. Feeling that I'm bored and maybe that I'm terribly unhappy. Unfortunately, I can't talk about it with anyone. As everyday goes on, I don't know what to do about these feelings. I know I can't change anything even though I'm so desperate for change.

* * *

One night, Monica and Chandler are having a big dinner party at their house. All my friends are invited and some people from Monica and Chandler's work. I head to the dinner with Barry. I'm happy to spend a night with friends.

Usually, I know everyone at these parties, the invite list is always the same, but after greeting everyone Barry and I run into a couple we have never seen before. A woman with short, blonde, curly hair wearing a swirly dress who honestly reminds me of a housewife from the 1970's. She's standing next to, who I have to assume, is her husband; a dark haired man in a grey suit. I must admit, I am very attracted to this man. Attraction is another thing no one talks about because it is senseless when it has no part in the decision of whom you will spend the rest of your life with. I also am so used to seeing the same people, that I haven't felt this in so long.

Barry and I walk over to this new couple.

"Hi there, I don't think we have met, I'm Barry and this is my wife Rachel," Barry introduces us and puts out a hand to the blonde woman.

She blushes and smiles, shaking his hand.

"Hello there, I'm Cindy, this is my husband Joey," she places a hand on the man next to her who smiles at us. "We just met Monica and Chandler recently," she explains to us.

"Oh, how did you meet them?" Barry inquires.

"I am a chef also, Monica and I got to cook for the mayor together," Cindy informs us.

Recently, Monica and a few other chefs were asked to cook for the mayor of the town and his family; it was a very exciting opportunity, something my job never has.

"Oh wow, how exciting!" Barry exclaims.

"Dinner is served!" Monica suddenly calls out to the entire room.

We all take our seats and I can't help, but sneak looks at this new stranger, Joey. Suddenly, I feel extremely jealous, which is such a waste of my time. I know how pointless it is to look at Cindy and be jealous of her attractive husband when I know he can never be mine, nothing can ever change.

Feeling an attraction towards Joey depresses me even more tonight. I haven't had strong feelings about anything recently and now these feelings are making me stare at my own husband Barry and want to cry by how unhappy I feel.

Sometime, after dinner, I make my way upstairs. It's not that weird, since I've been in this house a millions times. Also, Monica always offers to everyone the second bathroom upstairs if anyone needs, she's very welcoming.

I make my way to their guest bedroom and lay on the bed, trying to clear my head. Trying to think of how I can change how I feel and go back to normal.

After maybe ten minutes, I hear someone walking up the stairs. I sit up, expecting to see Barry looking for me.

Instead, a different face appears in the doorway, Joey.

My breath cuts short when I see him.

"Oh, are you looking for the bathroom?" I ask, assuming why he's here.

He looks back to the hallway for a second and then back to me.

"Oh, uh…no," he smiles guilty.

I'm instantly confused by this.

"Oh, um did you need something?" I try again.

He shakes his head no.

"Sorry, I just wanted to get away for a moment…a bit stuffy down there," he states.

I nod my head.

"Me too," I smile.

I stare at him, hating how attracted I am to him. I wish my life could be different. I wish I could do something and not just sit here dreading that I feel any feeling about him. I press my lips together, wishing he would leave so I wouldn't be craving such forbidden thoughts.

"Well, I guess I should head back down," he sighs, clearly not that happy about it.

"I mean, you could probably take an extra minute," I lightly joke and he smiles at that.

"Okay — can I?" he points to a chair in the corner of the room and I nod my head yes. He walks over and sits in the chair.

A thought suddenly pops into my head I never expected. Could it be possible Joey is unhappy too? I mean no one ever needs "a moment away", everyone is happy. Could there be a chance at all that he feels the same, that he isn't happy with his wife Cindy? It honestly doesn't matter because it's so unspeakable to be disloyal in anyway. But in this moment, I can't help, but actually consider it.

 _What am I thinking?_ I abruptly stop my own thoughts. What in the world am I thinking? It would be outrageous to even ask anyone about their marriage, their relationship, and what else would happen? He would change the rules of time and kiss me, run away with me? What am I crazy? I chastise myself over and over in my head, trying to just forget all my foolish thoughts.

But I can't, I look up at Joey almost praying he feels the same as me…and I just start moving without realizing. I stand up, getting off the bed.

"Joey?" I ask, not even sure what I'm thinking of doing.

He looks up.

"Yeah?" he smiles innocently at me.

I take a long breath in.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he replies and stands up to be polite.

"Have you ever…felt differently about anything?"

"What do you mean?" he questions me.

I gulp down some nerves, not being able to stop myself.

"Different from everyone else? Have you ever felt you wanted to _change_ something…about your life?"

He suddenly remains quiet and still. I wait nervously.

"You mean like my job?" he asks.

I nod my head yes.

He's staring at me intensely and I'm not sure what he's thinking.

"Or… my wife?" he asks and my body clenches when he says it. I can't believe he said it himself.

"Yes," I answer.

"What if I say yes?" he asks me and I can't help, but wonder if I've been right this whole time, is he just like me?

"I would tell you…" I start anxiously. I'm so scared he will rush downstairs at any moment and tell Barry that I'm sick, that I'm not right for saying all this to him.

"I might feel the same exact way," I finish my sentence.

He waits a moment. I can't breathe, I've never asked these questions, I've never said these things out loud in my life and I'm saying them to a total stranger.

"I do," he finally states and I'm shocked. I'm a stranger to him too and he just admitted this to me.

"Are you going to tell?" he suddenly questions me.

I shake my head no.

"I think I am so…unhappy," I admit to him.

This is crazy why am I telling him everything?

"What can we do?" he asks me and I can't believe this! Someone feels the same way I do, someone is like me?

I take a few steps towards him and this makes him noticeably nervous.

"Maybe…we have to break the rules," I whisper and I can't believe I even said it.

"How?"

"Go somewhere secretly," I suggest.

"What would we say?"

"We're doing charity work," I tell him as if I've already mapped out this plan... even though I haven't.

Since infidelity is so unheard of, no one would actually expect it or think it was happening. So, if I tell Barry and he tells Cindy we are working on a project for charity, they will instantly believe us. There is no reason to _not_ trust your husband or wife.

Even so, we are all so conditioned to be faithful to our spouse that I understand why Joey is so uncomfortable about this and so am I. But we clearly are both desperate for a change and I need to at least try it. I can't live like this forever, I just can't.

"Joey, I'm terrified, but I need to see," I say to him.

"Need to see what?"

"If I'm unhappy with my marriage or just unhappy."

I can see his jaw clench and he thinks about it.

"Okay," he whispers and my eyes widen. I can't believe this is happening, how is this happening?

We go back downstairs and leave after this. We don't know how to handle this. We don't even make a plan of when or where, but it is a lot at once and we need to get back downstairs before everyone worries about us.

* * *

The next day, I tell Barry right away that I will be working with Joey on a charitable project. I know I should wait, give Joey time to digest what we are doing, but I can't. I don't want to live another second of my boring life when this incredibly wrong, secret plan with Joey is suddenly the most exciting, incredible thing in my life.

Barry responds just as I knew he would. He approves and tells me to have fun.

It's a Saturday, so I ask Monica for Joey's address, informing her of our project as well and she happily shares the information.

I show up, unannounced, at Joey and Cindy's address. I ring the doorbell and Joey answers, staring at me wide eyed.

"Rachel, what are you doing here?" he whispers harshly.

"We should start today," I reply.

"Honey, who's at the door?" I hear Cindy call and she walks over to the door. Joey opens the door more so she can see me.

"Oh Rachel, hi! What a lovely surprise, what are you doing here?" she inquires cheerfully.

"Joey and I have the pleasure of working on an exciting charitable project for the kids," I tell her.

And just like everyone else, she doesn't even question it. She claps and responds with: "How fun! Oh, are you starting today?"

She looks up at Joey for him to answer.

He takes a moment and then nods.

"Yes," he says to her.

"Oh great, ok do you want me to grab you two a snack for the road or anything?" she offers.

"No, we're fine thank you," Joey anxiously answers.

"Okay, well have a good time. Will you be back for dinner?" she asks.

"Yes, of course," he says and Cindy tugs on his shirt so he'll lean down and then gives him a quick peck on the lips and then sends us off.


	2. Chapter 2

We decide to go to a hotel. Even a hotel is not suspicious because people only go to hotels to actually sleep or to have business lunches and meetings. So, going to a hotel to work on a charitable project wouldn't be much different than renting an office space, it will just be more private.

We drive there in silence, both feeling shook with what we are actually doing.

We get there, check into a room and head up to the room, still barely saying a word.

We walk in and both stand frozen as ice, staring at the bed. I need to give this a fair try; I need to, so I start the conversation.

"Okay, so um, should we…get undressed?" I speak in a hushed, nervous tone.

There is not much else to do, we are not used to taking the time to get to know someone when you don't even know your spouse before you marry them. I think we both figure if sex with someone else is a huge difference than we will know whether our arranged marriages are the problem or if _we_ are the problem.

He swallows a nervous knot in his throat.

"Yeah, I guess we should," he says and then his eyes fall to my body and he looks at me. Which I'm not used to, maybe Barry used to look at me, but we are just so used to each other, he doesn't do it anymore.

I get tingles inside when he takes his time to just stare at me. I make the first move while his eyes are busy and I lift my shirt. I see him breathe in deeply as he looks at my breasts hidden behind my bra.

He hesitates for a moment and then he grabs the collar of his shirt and pulls it off. He has a much nicer body than Barry or maybe it's just that I'm _actually_ attracted to him. Everything already feels different since I'm actually drawn to Joey physically. I start on my skirt and he starts on his pants so we are left in our under garments.

"Maybe, we should get in bed," he says before we go any further.

"Good idea," I agree, not sure if I was ready for the next reveal from him or me.

We get in bed and get under the covers. We lay next to each other as if we are just going to sleep. We don't move. I know this feels unnatural for both of us, but we've made it this far…we can't give up now.

I look over at him, he stays staring at the ceiling so I make probably the boldest move of my life and crawl over him and straddle him.

"What are you doing?" he gasps.

"What?" I freeze worriedly from his reaction.

"You're gonna be on top?" he looks astounded at this.

I tilt my head at this. I know sex is never really talked about; it's more of an aside in our world. Sex is something you only do with your spouse, usually only at night, and only in bed. Then, you never discuss it with _anyone_. But even so, I'm sure couples do experiment; I'm sure some people out there are kinky, not that Barry or I am. Even so, I do get on top every so often; it's not that strange… is it? I honestly question how weird this is since I could never know if anyone else does it.

"Um, Cindy never um….gets on top?" I ask him.

He shakes his head no.

"Really? Is this really weird?" I ask him, embarrassed.

He doesn't answer right away so I just get off of him and lay back down next to him.

"Wait, it wasn't weird, I was just so unprepared, but hey…" he starts and I finally look back over at him when he pauses.

"We are doing things we've never done before and besides Cindy is…" he continues, but looks like he feels bad and doesn't finish his sentence.

"Boring?" I try to help.

"Yeah, I mean, we are not compatible," he says.

"In bed?" I ask.

"Well, yeah… and I mean even in general," he admits.

We're talking about sex and our marriages; he is literally the first and only person I have ever spoken to about any of this. I still feel dumb that I jumped on him. I mean we are crossing so many boundaries already I should have went slow and waited for him. I figure maybe we should keep talking and it will put us back at ease.

"Same with Barry. I mean I feel… _nothing_ when I'm with him," I tell him and his eyebrows knit together.

"Nothing…at all?"

"I mean I guess I wait until you know…I'm feeling…in the mood, but in terms of it being Barry…no," I confess shyly and he raises his eyebrows.

"You feel something with Cindy?" I raise another question for him.

"Well, I guess I'm a guy so it's different, I don't feel like feelings for her, its just sex."

I stare into his eyes as he tells me all of this and already I feel so much more connected with him just by sharing these insanely intimidate confessions. It gets quiet again and we are just looking at each other.

"Do you still want to do this?" I question him.

"Yes," he confirms.

He gets on top of me. I'm nervous, so nervous.

We don't kiss because kissing is actually way more sacred than sex. A kiss is such a treasured act in our society. The first kiss, on a matched couple's wedding day means so much. So, it makes sense we don't and honestly I don't think we are ready for that much betrayal. This is already bad enough.

I slide off my underwear to give him the go ahead. It's so different, it's not Barry, but I look at Joey's smooth skin, his toned muscles, and I feel a slight tingle of excitement. Similar to what I felt on my wedding night…my first time.

I want this, I'm attracted to him and I want to have sex with him. He makes the move and soon enough he is inside of me. I inhale a sharp breath and he waits a second, not moving.

"Okay," I whisper to him in case he's waiting for me. I think he just needs a moment to digest that it's happening. Then, he starting moving and I grab onto his arms. Everything is so different, I'm feeling so much, my whole body is feeling it, but I'm not sure if it's just because of how new it all is.

He's not really looking at me and that's okay I realize how much more intimate that would make it. He presses his body down against mine so there's no longer as much of a space between us and I think he starts to relax more. His hand starts traveling down my body. I feel his hand slide down my ribs than travel back up, from my hip all the way to my breast, which is still covered from my bra. It still sends a shiver down my back. Then his hand is back down and hooks my leg with his arm, lifting it up which allows him to hit all new spots that make me start to moan out. I put a hand over my mouth and he looks at me for maybe the first time. He slows down. I just wait for him; he looks away and picks up the pace again to an even faster pace than before. I feel his fingers start digging into my thigh, which is turning me on. He lets my leg go and I sit up, wrapping my arms around him which is a new position for me. I just decide to try it. He goes with it and we're so close but we both look down so we're not staring into each other's eyes, so we're not tempted to kiss. I let go and let my body fall back down, Joey follows me. Now I wrap my legs around him and he starts fully thrusting into me and I grab onto the pillow behind me as each thrust sends a painful pleasure through me. He keeps getting even faster. He eventually slows back down a smooth rhythm and I can feel I am getting close. I haven't had an orgasm in quite a while and even being this close is surprising and exciting.

Then, he does something else Barry has never done. He sits up, hooking both my thighs this time, so he's still inside of me, but sitting back on his knees. He pulls my body by my legs so he is even deeper inside of me. I let out another moan, biting my lip to remind myself to stop doing that. Then, he continues thrusting into me until my whole body caves and I'm orgasming. Maybe a minute later I feel him push into me and press his body over mine as I feel his spill into me. We both are breathing heavily; all I can hear are our loud breaths, trying to calm down from our highs. He finally slides out of me and falls down next to me.

I don't know what to say. The amount I felt, how different everything felt…it felt good. _It felt good_ , I mean really good…so much…better than with Barry.

I feel awful even thinking this, even if it is the truth. I start making excuses in my head: _it's just because it was new and with someone else. It was just a change, you were bored before. It just felt good because you actually orgasmed this time._

I realize I'm so conditioned to love my husband that I don't want to believe I was right, that I felt nothing for my own husband and was so unhappy in that marriage. I don't want it to be the truth because what can we do, we can't leave our marriages, it's unheard of.

I finally look over at Joey and I start to smile, suddenly forgetting the sea of thoughts flooding into my head. I bite back the smile.

"So…what did you think?" I tensely ask.

He lets out another large breath even though we've basically got our breathing back to normal now.

He licks his lips and closes his eyes.

"I liked it," he says without opening them. I let my eyes widen with enthusiasm at this confession.

He opens his eyes and looks over at me.

"It was… a lot…better," he tells me and suddenly I feel pride as if I did anything, which I really didn't.

"Is that…how you…do it with Cindy?" I say uncomfortably.

He shakes his head no.

"I'm like a board with Cindy," he says and this confuses me. He sees the confusion on my face.

"Cindy likes things very… slow and normal, she doesn't want me moving her or switching anything, it's like one pace, one motion… one body over another" he tells me and I'm surprised his sex life sounds even worse than mine.

I think about how different people's lives are and you would never know because you only see the outside, the dressed up couple at the dinner party instead of the possibly boring, complicated, unhappy couple at home.

"When did you get matched with Cindy?" I get curious.

"15," he tells me and my mouth drops.

I shoot up.

"You got matched early too?"

He sits up with me.

"Yeah, why when were you?"

"16."

"Wow, you know it's like over ten years for me and Cindy," he says and that really throws me. I never, _ever_ thought about how long I had been with Barry because I knew it would be forever. At least, it was supposed to be that way. It was over ten years for me too; Joey and I must be about the same age.

"So, uh what about you…did you feel…anything?" he asks me and I realized I never even said anything.

I nod my head, smiling without meaning to.

"I felt…a lot, I liked it too," I tell him.

He nervously smiles.

"So, what do we do?" he asks and I have no clue. I mean there is no next step; we already ruined society's rules. Whether we ever get caught or not we have to live with our adultery forever. Also, regardless of us getting caught there's no real future for us. If we somehow left our spouses, we would surely get shunned or something. Definitely no one would talk to us, our families would be embarrased to be seen with us. We would probably be fired from our jobs just from the reputations we would create for ourselves.

But I can't just forget all of this, how can I just go home to Barry knowing what Joey feels like, knowing how good it felt. In this moment, I look at him and realize I want him even more now. Now, that we shared so many secrets, now that we slept together, I want him even more.

"We keep trying?" I suggest.

He looks at me funny.

"What are we trying now?" he asks since we already did it, we slept together.

"Trying to be happy. I know being with you made me happy and…I want to do it again," I profess.

He looks at me surprised. I'm not exactly sure why.

"We can just _keep_ doing this?" he asks, probably still not fully comfortable breaking every law we've ever lived by.

"Do you want to?"

"Yeah…of course I _want_ to, I just… I guess there is no going back now, is there?" he more determines for himself.

"Should we pick up where we left off, tomorrow?" I ask.

He snickers at this, I laugh a bit too.

"Right, our charity project," he bites his lip into a smile and I realize even his smile is so attractive. I never felt this giddy looking at Barry's smile.

"Yeah," I breathe.

We drive home.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day we do it again. We drive to the hotel and we start by talking about our home life, all the things we can never talk about. We discuss what Cindy and Barry asked in terms of the "project" and what we lied and told them. Then, we get in bed and this time we are more genuinely excited than we are nervous. We don't take much time to take our clothes off, but we still stop at the under garments until we get safely under the blankets…one step at a time I suppose.

We're in bed and Joey looks at me before climbing over me.

"Do you think today we can try…" he starts, but is taking too long to say it so I get up and climb over him, this time not feeling unsure.

"This?" I smirk at him and he nods.

"So, I just…" he starts to question like it's no longer sex and he doesn't know the rules.

"You just relax and let _me_ take the reins" I say with a wide smile.

He looks at me, very enticed, like this is so different and new to him. And that arouses me even more that I'm exciting him.

I slide back and slowly slide down onto his erection. He watches me do this with excited wonder. I start to move slowly up and down him and then I start making small circles which causes him to inhale a sharp breath, not expecting this. I bite my lip, loving that I can make him feel something so new. I look down and he's actually looking at me. When I look at him he quickly looks back down where we are joining together, the source of all our pleasure. He places his hands on my hips and starts guiding my motions. We keep going, guiding each other. I pick up the pace so much he lets out a grunt, but right after the sound leaves his throat he rolls me over and takes control. We keep rolling over each other, switching positions, until we both finish feeling just as good as the first time.

As we lie in bed, enjoying the exhaustion of our bodies feeling so good. I turn to look at Joey.

I enjoy talking to him almost as much as I enjoy the sex since we can actually talk about anything...for once.

"What was your childhood like?" I ask him.

He takes a moment to take in this question. He has probably never been asked this, neither have I.

"Pretty normal. I went to school, spent weeknights with my family, spent Saturdays with my friends, and Sundays at church. Until high school I guess. They claimed I was 'acting out,'" he shares.

"What do you mean?" I turn onto my side, enthralled by this revelation.

"I just liked this girl, I thought she was pretty, so I started stopping by her house after school and spending some Saturdays with her. I just wanted to see her and I thought maybe it could help me being matched with her if I spent more time with her. Definitely not, Cindy is the total opposite of that girl," he explains and it's like I know it so well, it's so familiar.

"Hm and you got matched with Cindy right after that?" I question him.

"Yeah only a few months later," he tells me.

I keep thinking it over, relating so much to his story.

"Did you stop after you got matched? Did you ever spend another week night not with your family or Cindy?" I ask.

"No, of course not, I got matched there was nothing, but being a husband and waiting to get my job after that."

"Yeah, it's weird when you get matched early and you still have to finish school before you start working," I relate.

Joey nods in agreement. I cant believe how similar our stories are until a realization hits me. One I would have never considered if someone else didn't share their story similar to mine.

"That's why we were matched early," I speak suddenly.

"Why?"

"I did the same thing. Did something I thought was innocent, but I guess technically it was against the norm, against the pattern of just waiting to be matched."

"What did you do?" Joey asks me.

"I liked this boy who I think liked me and we started sending letters to each other and spending Saturdays together as well. Then I got matched with Barry only a few months later too," I share.

"So, what you think they matched us early so we wouldn't fall for people we weren't meant to be with?" Joey questions me.

"No, they matched us to conform us. Even though we were barely doing anything, we were acting out as you called it. We were going against their system. Then, they matched us with boring rule followers," I say.

"But that's crazy, you stay with who you get matched with forever... at least we were supposed to... so why would they match us with people we weren't even meant to be with?" Joey tries.

"Well, they did, didn't they? I guess you only get a fair shot if you don't test them, if you don't pay attention to your feelings and go after something you actually want," I project my realizations as they hit me.

"Well, then they screwed themselves over because look at us now," Joey brings up a point I didn't even consider.

"You're right... I wonder if there's others?"

"Others that have cheated?" Joey clarifies.

"Or something... I mean we can't be the only ones who got matched solely for conformity and then finally got fed up with how unhappy we were."

Joey looks astounded by this, I think realizing how true it could be.

We sit in silence thinking these theories over.

We finally drive home.

* * *

I get home this day and I realize everything is more bareable. I'm surprised at myself. I thought everyday I went home I would be guilt ridden and get depressed, but I'm not. I go home and I'm just content and happy and it doesn't bother me as much that Barry is my husband or that my job is an eight hour cycle of the same damn thing everyday. I think our new theory about the matching system helps as well. Now, that I'm not so sure Barry and I are meant for each other, it takes away some of the guilt.

I also start thinking about sex more than I ever have. I even think of my friends and wonder what they do in bed, which I know sounds weird, but I can't help it. I guess now that the conversation is open and I've talked about sex and experienced sex with someone else, it's a whole new world. I wish I could talk to Monica or even Phoebe about it. I bet it would be fun to talk about it with my girlfriends, but there's no way I could, even if I wasn't disobeying all of society by cheating on my husband.

* * *

The next day, it's back to work. We go all of Monday without seeing each other since it's a long day and I assume it might be weird to run off after work together. But by Tuesday, I am already craving Joey and his body and sex…which is something I haven't craved this badly in years. I call his house phone, after work Tuesday night and ask if we could work on "the project" during our lunch break the next day. He is surprised by this, but agrees. I excitedly hang the phone up as Barry hops into bed next to me.

"The project is going well?" he asks.

"Yes," I say and then turn off the light and go to bed.

* * *

The next day Joey and I meet up at the hotel again and we have sex during our lunch break…it's amazing. It's amazing every time with him now, but getting to take a break in the middle of a long, work day for something as pleasurable as getting to explore Joey's naked body is a real treat. I thought this would be a one time thing, to get it out of my system until the weekend, but then Joey asks if we should meet again the next day. So, we meet again the next day and then the next day and then it's the weekend and we are right back at the hotel again. It's getting a little crazy, but I'm finally feeling happy, I mean so happy and excited and just good.

We're back at the hotel Saturday and we've just finished releasing every pent up frustration through each other's naked bodies. We're lying there relieved, catching our breath — like normal.

I look over at him.

"Hey, I have a surprise," I divulge to him.

He raises his eyebrows at me.

"What is it?" he asks curiously.

"Wait here," I tell him and I run to my bag which I purposely left in the bathroom. I close the door behind me.

I've been keeping this secret since yesterday when I went out and bought lingerie. Lingerie is very rare here, I'm sure some people wear it, but it's not really advertised or put on show at all. I've never worn it in my life. I had to drive an hour to find a store that had it. I lied and told Barry I was visiting one of the schools our project was benefitting.

I bought a nightgown, well it's not really a gown, it barely has any fabric at all. It looks like a black, lacy bra that extends into a completely see-through dress of even finer fabric that barely makes it to my thighs. I eagerly change into it, so excited for Joey to see it.

I finally crack the door open, peak through and see Joey waiting in the bed. I open it a little more, but keep my body covered so he can't see. He tries to see what I'm doing, but is not sure why I'm hiding.

"Ready?" I entice him from behind the door.

"Yeah," he nods, so curious now.

I open the door by sliding my hand high up on the edge of the door, pushing it open and grabbing the doorframe with my other hand so I'm on full display for him in the doorway.

Joey freezes when I come into frame. His lips part into a speechless trance. I see his chest start to rise and fall as he stares at my exposed body and new lacy accessory.

"Do you like it?" I whisper sexily and run my hands off the door and take a step into the room.

"Do I - wow, it's - you look - wow," he breathes and I can't help a grin that spreads across my entire face. I bite my lip from his constant staring and look of amazement at me. I walk up to the bed and crawl onto it. Joey straightens his body, sitting up even higher than he was.

"You look - wow," he repeats.

I snicker at him.

"Still can't find a better adjective huh?" I tease him.

"Sorry," he breathes. "It's amazing, you look unbelievable."

I smile genuinely now.

"Thanks."

He waits, not touching me, not moving, just still staring at my body — at me.

"Shouldn't we put this to use," I finally suggest.

His eyes widen at this.

"We're gonna... again?"

We have only been having sex once every time we see each other, probably because it's just what we're used to. I assume most couples do the same, then again neither of us probably enjoyed sex in our marriages enough to want to go a second time. Maybe other couples are different?

"Why not? I mean, if you want to. We're already defiling all of society's rules regardless," I chuckle.

"Right, okay," he says still looking me up and down, so I climb on top of him. He holds onto my hips and stares right down between my legs through the transparent fabric and then back up to my breasts. I watch him just look in wonder, feeling satisfied by how much he really seems to love this little thing. I think about it and realize I doubt Cindy is the kind of girl to ever show skin at all, so I assume this must be a real change for him.

I enjoy it though, watching him so taken with it, truly unable to control his eyes. I watch him until he finally looks back up at me. I stare into his eyes. _He's perfect,_ I think.

I start leaning down, not even fully aware of it at first. He keeps still. I keep moving closer, inch by inch until my lips are just about to touch his. I want to kiss him. I know I shouldn't, but we never should of done any of this. I hope he wants to kiss me... I hope this isn't too far for him. I wait frozen before his lips and he's still unmoved. I make the last tiny stride and touch my lips ever so gently to his. He lets me.

I linger on his soft lips feeling a tingle run down my spine. I finally draw back and wait for his response. He doesn't say anything. I think maybe he's uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," I breathe and he still doesn't respond.

 _I hope I didn't mess this up, oh no why did I do that, why did I give into my temptations? Maybe we should stop, is he mad?_

"I... I'm sorry-" I start again and look to try and slide off him, but he stops me by taking a hold of my arm and pulling me back to him. He reaches up and claims my lips again. I fall back into them and my worries melt away. He kisses my top lip, then my bottom and then slips his tongue into my mouth. I wasn't expecting him to move so fast, but I've never been more ready and in a split second we start greedily making out, touching every part of each other we can, fumbling over each other.

Until I draw back suddenly.

"We should stop," I pant, barely able to catch my breath.

"Why?" Joey looks at me quizzically.

I have no idea. Maybe a pang of guilt washed over me for a moment, when in reality I've never had such a strong desire to kiss someone, to touch someone as badly as I do right now... as badly as I always do with Joey.

"I don't know," I say quietly.

He waits a moment and then grazes my cheek with his hand, he pulls me in and gently kisses me. I kiss him back, much softer now. He moves his lips all over mine so we both feel every possible surface, every possible inch of each other's lips. And we don't stop until our bodies are one and we have sex with actual kissing... not just our mouths, but all over our entire bodies. I can't get enough.

By the time we're done, I'm only mad at myself that I didn't think to kiss Joey sooner. It was the best decision I ever made. Well, best decision right after taking my life back, into my own hands, and also taking a chance on Joey — who was a stranger a week ago.


	4. Chapter 4

Unfortunately, Joey and I soon have to slow down. I guess life catches up with us and suddenly we have friends inviting us places, family calling us and late nights at work to catch up on some stuff we may have slacked off on.

So, we go three days without seeing each other and I'm terrified to admit how much Joey is keeping me afloat. In just three days my mood falls completely flat again, I feel lost and bored and right back where I was. I've only known Joey a week and already he's improved my life so much I can't bare three days back in my old routine. Even visiting my friends doesn't lift my spirits as much as it used to. It scares me because it's very likely this will all have to stop, I'll have to give Joey up or be found out.

* * *

I have dinner with Chandler and Monica this week and can't help, but look at them differently now. I'm so immensely curious. Are they truly happy? Have they truly accepted our lives, the rules we have to live by? They were always a great couple in my mind, but what if I'm wrong? What if they just put on a believable front? I can't help, but wonder how perfect they really are for each other.

Before dinner, Monica and I are in the kitchen chatting like we always do.

"So, how's work?" Monica asks as she lays out a cheese platter. I take a piece before I answer.

"Alright, a bit hectic lately," I tell her.

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

"I've just been a bit behind. I've been tired lately."

It's not a complete lie I am tired after seeing Joey, I mean a wonderfully satisfied tired, but still... tired.

"Oh have you been feeling okay?" she asks.

"Yes, just fine," I comment blandly.

"You know Rachel, sometimes I get a little worried about you," Monica says.

"Why?" I ask.

"You just haven't been yourself lately. You're not as cheerful as you used to be," she shares.

I'm surprised she admitted it to me. Usually, you don't mention if you think someone might be unhappy or depressed because there's not much they can change about their life anyway. But Monica has always been a real friend to me. I grew up with her, I shared everything with her... until now. There was no way I could tell her what I've been doing with my life and what I've been doing with Joey.

Still, I feel guilty not being able to talk to her, but everything is so different now anyway. I've talked to Joey about so many things I've never spoken about with anyone, so many things we're not allowed to talk about. Honestly, it makes my friendship with Monica seem only half full, like we're missing an entire part of our relationship, the parts of our lives we can't share with each other.

"Hey Mon," I decide to try and see what I can get her to share, what do I have to lose?

"Yeah?"

"Do you love Chandler?"

She stops and looks at me funny.

"Of course, he's my husband," she replies exactly how every single person in this town would.

I try to think of a way to ask her something without it crossing too obviously into taboo territory.

"Yes, of course, but what do you love _the most_ about him?" I question her.

She smiles.

"Where is this coming from?" she deflects from the question.

She is already getting slightly uncomfortable.

"Nowhere," I sigh.

I've already given up when I suddenly see Monica's eyes glaze over and she smiles.

"I love how much he makes me laugh, how happy he makes me... I love that he's my best friend and the love of my life," she tells me.

I realize in this moment, Monica can't see any of the problems with our world because she's not _just_ conditioned to our world, she's truly in love. They got it right and so she's actually happy and therefore fine with the rules because she wouldn't want it any other way.

I suddenly envy her happiness longing for the same thing so badly. I want that, I want that glaze... that trance of happiness where I can't even fathom how much I love my husband.

* * *

The rest of the week goes by. The longest week of my life.

Finally, Joey calls me and asks if we can meet up Saturday morning. I've never said yes so quickly in my life.

Saturday morning we get to the hotel. The second we get through the door we are all over each other. We are so desperate for each other after being apart for a week.

When we've exhausted the insane need inside of both of us, we are finally resting next to each other in bed.

I don't want to admit to Joey how low I felt without him, how attached I already am to him. I also don't tell him about Monica because I don't want him to feel down realizing how _not_ compatible we are with our own spouses compared to how perfect Monica and Chandler are. I know it got me down.

"You're quiet," Joey notices.

I shrug.

"I'm just happy I got to see you finally," I tell him, avoiding my real reasonings.

"Me too, but it actually, probably was for the best. Cindy was started to get concerned about me," he shares.

"Why?"

"Well, since we were seeing each other so often, I didn't need — or want to, you know, _do_ anything with her. She was afraid there was something wrong with me," he says.

"Really, huh I guess I would be surprised if Barry didn't bother me for a week," I say.

He looks over at me with a bit of a frown.

"So, I guess we both still..." he starts, hinting at the intimacy still in our lifeless marriages.

"I don't like to, especially now that you and I have been together, but I do it for the same reasons. I don't want him getting concerned or report me as crazy for not loving my own husband," I admit, a bit ashamed to him.

"Yeah, it was so much worse now that I actually know what good sex is... what sex _with you_ is like," he says.

"You're telling me," I chuckle sincerely and he laughs at that.

"Speaking of sex, I have to hang with Cindy all day tomorrow," Joey informs me.

"What's tomorrow?" I inquire.

"My birthday."

I freeze in this moment, realizing I never even knew his birthday. The man I've been shattering every rule in existence with was born tomorrow and I had no idea. Then, I suddenly get sad realizing how I won't be able to spend a single second with him on his special day.

"You okay?" he sees the roller coaster of emotion behind my eyes.

"Hm? Yeah of course, I just didn't realize. Of course you have to spend tomorrow with Cindy."

He just nods, looking a bit dissatisfied with this decision as well.

I lean over him suddenly and press my lips to his cheek.

I pull back.

He smiles at me.

"What?"

"Happy early birthday," I whisper.

He leans over and kisses me — a soft, warm kiss that makes me fall into a hopeless trance.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day I wake up, remembering it's Joey's birthday. I consider calling him, but I decide against it.

So, I spend the entire day with Barry, a very boring day at that. Finally, it's 8 pm and I'm sitting on the couch with Barry just dying inside. Dying that I have to spend the day with my own husband. Suddenly, Barry turns to me.

"Honey," he says softly and takes my hands in his.

"Yes?" I answer, worried inside.

"I've been thinking. I would like to start our family," he says.

My stomach turns, literally twists into a knot at this very normal suggestion. Of course, he wants to start a family it's the right thing to do. But now the idea of having children with this man in front of me is the most terrifying idea I've ever had to consider. But how do I say no? You can't say no unless you have a medical condition or some mental history to your family. Even so, most families will adopt in those cases.

"I - I'm sorry I don't feel well," I finally say and jump up and rush to the bathroom. I close the door and fall to the ground. My head is spinning, I'm trapped, I'm trapped in this marriage and now I'm going to have children with a man I don't even love. I can't do it, I cant!

"Rachel? Honey, what's going on, are you okay? Rachel, talk to me sweetie," I hear Barry call outside the door.

I try to calm my panicked breathing down.

"Rachel, open the door please!"

I finally get up and fix myself in the mirror. I open the door and Barry has a look of horror on his face.

I wrap my arms around him and sink into a hug.

"I love you," I lie to him, trying to distract from me not replying yes to his request. I pull back from the hug and he still looks concerned.

"I just need some air, I think I've come down with something," I tell him.

"Are you sure? Should we see a doctor. Let me get you soup or a towel," he offers. I put my hands on his cheeks.

"First some air, thank you sweetie," I say and then I head out the door.

I walk down our driveway and a little down the street at a very normal pace, then I take off. I'm running and I don't even know what I'm doing. What's my plan... what can I do?

I run to Joey's house, the only person I can tell everything to.

I sneak into the backyard. I look up at the window where the master bedroom is in every house. There's a light on, but Cindy could be in there. I'm crazy, what am I doing?

But I can't help myself, I grab some pebbles from around their garden and toss them up at the window until a shadow approaches and draws back the curtains and shades. It's Joey, thank god. He doesn't open the window and instead rushes out of the room. I'm assuming he's coming outside to meet me and I'm right.

He creeps out the back door carefully, probably sneaking out without Cindy knowing. He walks over to me hurriedly and I just grab him and latch my arms around him, squeezing him so tight. I feel his body clench, nervous I'm hugging him out in the open, in public, where someone might see. But I need to hold on to him, to feel safe and protected even for a moment. Even if this is one of the riskiest things I could do. I still refuse to let go or loosen my grip and finally he caves and his arms wrap around me.

"What's going on?" he whispers.

I don't answer, I can't. I feel tears start to slowly escape from my eyes and slide down my cheeks.

"Rachel, what happened?" he whispers and rubs his hand up and down my back.

I finally bring my arms back and quickly wipe my face before picking my head up again. He looks so distraught, so concerned, just like Barry.

I realize in this moment, telling him won't fix anything. He won't have the perfect response to make having a family with my chosen husband seem less bad. He can't change our marriages, he can't go back in time. I stop thinking and suddenly the craziest words come out of my mouth.

"Run away with me," I breathe.

His eyes widen.

"What?" Rachel, that's - that's crazy," he starts.

"I love you, I'm in love with you" I whisper and he freezes. He stares at me, shocked and I've never been so scared. Telling another man you love him, this is so unheard of, so beyond everything we've already done. I have nothing else I want, nothing, but this man standing in front of me. So, there's no point of denying it anymore.

I can't stand the silence anymore.

"Joey there's nothing for me... there's no life for me without you. I need to be with you and if that means being shunned, losing everyone else, then I'm willing to do that," I tell him. My voice is so shaky I hope he even understood it all.

Still not audible response.

"Just say something," I say a little too loud and he twitches and looks around.

He looks back at me and his face falls from fear to sadness.

"Rachel," he breathes heavily.

He takes another moment and I swallow a knot in my throat.

"I'm in love with you too," he whispers so softly I almost didn't hear it, but I did hear it and I can't breathe. He loves me. I've never felt so happy and afraid at the same time. I feel another tear fall.

"So, run away with me," I repeat.

"Just run away and leave everything?" he chokes.

"What else can we do? If we want to be together then they'll shun us or throw us out of the town or something. We might as well beat them to it," I try desperately.

He looks so unsure, so uneasy.

"What if we just keep doing what we're doing? We haven't been caught yet?" he tries.

"Then, we still go home to different people. Then, we're still not married. Joey, it's not enough for me. I want to wake up with you every morning and go to bed with you every night. I want to have a house with you, kids... I want a life with you," I spill my heart out to him.

His jaw clenches and his eyes look even sadder. His head drops and he looks at the ground. He looks up at the sky and his eyes close like he's trying to figure this out. Trying to think of another way.

"If you don't feel the same just say so," I tell him. He snaps back to me.

"Rachel," he says.

"If you want to stay with Cindy, say so," I demand with a steady voice now.

He shakes his head no.

"I want you," he tells me.

"Then, lets leave... together," I state.

He takes a breath in.

"Okay."

My eyes widen, my heart finally stops pounding in my chest.

"Yes? We're leaving? We're really leaving?" I exclaim quietly.

I feel my heart filling with joy, my toes already wiggling with readiness.

"We're starting our life together," he tells me firmly and I run into his arms and kiss him. He lets me, he kisses me back, finally not caring.

"We'll meet at sunrise," he whispers.

"Okay, yes. I love you so much," I whisper so ecstatically, I'm going numb from happiness. How is this happening? This is actually happening!

"I love you too," he says and kisses me on my forehead.

"Now, go," he whispers.

I bite back my enormous smile and hurry out of his yard, back to my house.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** I just want to say thank you to everyone who is taking the time to review this story. I really appreciate the feedback, I hope you are all enjoying reading!

* * *

At sunrise, Joey and I meet for our escape. I can't believe we are going through with this and even more I still can't believe he loves me. I'm so happy even though this is the most horrible thing I've ever done in my life. I'm leaving everyone and everything, but I have to, this life clearly wasn't for me and I'm finally doing something about it. I never thought I would actually change a single thing and now that I have I'm actually more proud than I am scared or guilty.

We take my car because Barry and I own two cars and if anyone is to blame I want more of the blame to fall on me than Joey.

We starting driving.

We exit the town, then we're driving past city lines. We're actually doing this!

We keep driving.

It's been hours. Joey and I talk nearly the entire trip, just learning every little thing there is to know about one another. From things as little as our favorite ice cream flavor to how much money we make at our jobs. We don't care, we're sharing everything.

We blast the music, roll down the windows and just keep driving until night fall hits.

* * *

Finally, Joey finds a place to pull over.

"I guess we should have stopped at one of the hotels we passed," he says guiltily since we haven't passed one for hours and now we're too tired at this point to keep looking.

I shrug and smile at him.

"Who cares. We did it, we left," I marvel over us, not even fully feeling how tired I must be.

He smiles back at me and leans over to kiss me. I run my hands down his face, sinking in the wonderful feeling of his lips.

He pulls back.

"I guess we can sleep in the car," he offers.

I look to the back seat.

"You really think we can both fit?"

"Sure!"

I give him a look of disbelief.

"Here just try, get back there," he lightly pulls me and I climb over the seats to the back row.

"How are we both going to fit?" I test as I lay down and take up most of the row, not even fitting my legs without bending them.

Joey starts to climb over the seats to join me. He manages to do this without crashing into me.

"Like this," he answers and then lays right on top of me. I smile wide at his face only inches from mine and he grins at me.

"Very comfortable," he teases and then completes the space between our lips. I start chuckling under his lips, but he keeps kissing me and then moves to my neck. He lets his body rest fully on mine and I feel his erection press in between my legs. I bite my lip as he's still sucking on my neck.

"Joey — we can't — do this _here_ ," I breathe out jaggedly.

He picks his head up and looks down at me.

"Why not?"

"In a car?"

He smirks.

"Why not? We're never going back."

I smile at that. I am truly starting over — with Joey, with the man I love.

"You're right," I smirk back at him.

He slowly leans back down to kiss me all over again until eventually he sits back, pulls me up and positions me on his lap. We start undressing each other, still tasting every part of our bodies we can get our lips on in the process. We use every part of that back seat until we're riding into ecstasy, like always.

Somehow we do manage to fit in the back seat and we fall asleep in each other's arms. Even in a cold and cramped back seat of a car, I've never slept better because I'm finally in Joey's arms. I'm finally feeling happy and loved.

* * *

The next morning we get up and continue driving. We brought some food for this trip to carry us over, but we're already almost out. Ends up Joey really loves his food. We do have money, but we are nervous to stop. We don't know what other towns are like, will people instantly recognize that we are outsiders? We are afraid of how they will react and what will happen, but by the afternoon we are out of food.

When dinner time rolls around Joey tells me he's hungry and I'm starting to feel it as well.

We decide we'll drive until we find a hotel and just eat there as well as finally check into a room.

We find a hotel and nervously park.

I look over at Joey.

"We're going to be fine," Joey assures me and rubs my shoulder comfortingly. I nod and we both get out.

We go to the front desk and ask to check in. The clerk reacts perfectly normal and doesn't question a thing.

We breathe a sigh of relief as we head upstairs and order room service.

* * *

As we are finishing up dinner we hear some music suddenly playing. It sounds like it's coming from downstairs.

"Wanna check it out?" Joey asks and I shake my head frantically.

"No, we can't!"

"Rachel, its possible we _don't_ have to hide forever. Nobody said a thing."

"Maybe they were playing it cool," I stress.

"Or maybe things are different here. Maybe it's normal for more travelers to pass by and for people to move around?" Joey tries.

I still feel so uncertain and start twiddling my thumbs. Joey moves over and clasps my hands. I look up at him worried.

"Look, if something goes wrong, we keep going. We're not staying here long anyway," he tells me.

"That's true," I note.

"Lets just try," he whispers and he presses his lips to my temple to calm me down. It works, I smile.

"Okay, we'll see how it goes," I give in.

We head downstairs and find a large lounge room with music playing and people casually hanging out.

We walk in and find an empty couch to sit on.

We are enjoying the music and Joey even wraps his arms around me and I snuggle closer to him.

A man and woman suddenly walk over. I sit up, suddenly rigid with worry again.

"Hey you two like beer?" the man holds out two beer bottles.

Joey and I look at each other for a second and then Joey turns back to the two strangers.

"Yeah, sure," he says and grabs a bottle.

I wish he didn't do that, now I'm swimming in fear.

The man offers the other one to me, but I politely decline.

"Okay," the man shrugs and him and the woman pull over two chairs from a nearby table and sit directly in front of us. I can't move.

"So, where you two from?" the woman asks us loudly.

"Uh, New York... were traveling," Joey says and I'm barely breathing wondering what they are about to say to that.

"Oh yeah I hear it's nice there, we've never been. We're traveling for our honeymoon," the woman comments casually.

"Oh yeah? You two just get married?" Joey asks.

"You bet!" the man cheers and then swings his arm over his wife's shoulder and kisses her cheek about five times speedily.

"Congrats," I finally spit out a verbal word, trying not to look so rude.

"Thank you, you two just married?" the woman asks and I'm frozen again. I can't answer. Joey takes a second too, we don't know what to say. Are we going to have to make something up?

"Oh uh, no we're not," Joey answers nervously.

The couple looks at us funny when we answer so hesitantly.

"Alright then, so you're dating?" the woman questions us further.

We both cock our eyebrows at that.

"Dating?" I ask, completely lost.

"Yeah, _dating_... uh seeing each other? Sleeping together?" the man bluntly clarifies.

Joey and I are dumbfounded. Dating? People _date_ here? They aren't chosen a wife or husband by early adulthood? They get to know each other first, do they decide who they marry? What is going on? I need to know more immediately so I finally get into the conversation.

"How did you two meet?" I ask, ignoring their original question.

"I met this little lady at a bar, my buddies bet me she would never go out with me and look at us now," the man grins at his wife while Joey and I stare at them wide-eyed.

They look back at us and seem unsettled with our reactions. They look at us strange.

"Alright, well you two have a good night," the man uncomfortably smiles and the two get up and place the chairs back. They walk away and Joey and I turn to one another.

We are both speechless. We can't believe how different this place is, an entirely different world has existed this whole time and we're been trapped in a town of arranged marriages, curfews, social rules and pre-determined jobs!

We sit there muling this revelation over for a few moments.

" _Greenwich Village_ ," we suddenly hear someone speak the name of our town, the town we just escaped.

My heart nearly stops. This must be it, they found us and they are going to lock us up or send us back to a life of misery.

We both rigidly turn to our side where the voice traveled from. It's a man sitting on another couch a few feet away. He has a baseball cap covering his eyes. He finally looks up and turns to us. I don't recognize him and I assume Joey doesn't either.

"Uh, yes?" Joey nervously answers the man.

"That's where you from huh?" the man grumbles and we nod and wait for his next move.

He gives us a smile and we're not sure what is happening.

"Me too," he says, in a much lighter tone.

We are shocked for the second time tonight.

"You-you are from- you- did you leave?" I stumble from the million questions I have.

"Yeah, had to get out, that place was hell," he states like it was such a simple decision.

"But how did you know...that you could?" Joey inquires.

"I didn't, I just knew I hated everyday, every second. I figured I'd find a better place to live or die trying," he tells us.

I'm enthralled, I can't believe this. There _are_ others!

"Wow, when did you leave?" I ask him.

"Er, twenty years ago or so," he expresses.

Joey and I exchange looks again.

"So, then no one talks about it," I realize aloud and both Joey and the man look at me.

"Well, we never heard about you or anyone _ever_ leaving and they must know. Your family, your boss...but no one says a word," I continue, shaking from this discovery.

"They are probably sworn to secrecy. You don't even know the half of how corrupt that place is. We were brainwashed, no one in that shit town has any idea there's a real life outside that town, there's a normal world!" the man proclaims.

Joey and I take a moment to take this in.

"So, you two got out, what for...love?" he guesses.

We nod yes to him.

He leans closer to us and grins, a mischievous grin.

"Look, out here in the real world, you can do whatever you want. I mean there are still laws, don't go killing nobody. But I mean you're not only free of arranged marriages and jobs and shit, you two are free spirits now. You can choose to love anyone in the world, you can be with anyone," he tells us.

"Oh, well, we really care about each other," Joey says and it makes me blush.

"Yeah, I'm sure, but I'm saying you could even date more than one person. You can go crazy, date five, sleep with three, break up, get back together, marry whoever. You can even get divorced here," the man tells us.

We sit, again trying to process this information.

"Look, have fun alright. You don't even realize what mental institute you were living in. You don't even realize how much you don't know, how much you haven't experienced yet. Just never go back alright, trust me," the man states and then gets up and walks away.

I look at Joey, who is trying to process everything too.

I'm so shocked and intrigued and amazing all at once.

I'm also nervous, what if Joey takes this man's advice?

What if he leaves me?


	7. Chapter 7

Joey and I head back to our room. We don't say much to each other. The last thing we expected was to find another runaway from our town and find out how truly trapped we were in our over-controlled society. We both have so many questions, but neither of us have the answers.

We go to bed and for a few hours I forgot about my confusion, my anger, my worry. I'm in Joey's arms, sleeping with him in an actual bed.

I wake up the next morning and there's no Joey next to me. Sheer panic shoots through my bones that he was kidnapped or decided to leave me. My mind is racing until I hear the toilet flush and out comes Joey from the bathroom. I try to hide my huge sigh of relief so I don't have to admit how freaked out I just got. He doesn't seem to notice and gives me a tired smile and hops back into bed with me. He tries to fall back asleep.

I look at him and think about how I don't want to lose him. I realize there is a lot to figure out and probably a lot of anger and feelings we haven't dealt with properly. But the one thing I do know the answer to is I want Joey. I ran away with him and I only want to be with him. Joey tosses a couple of times and then opens his eyes again with a frustrated sigh.

"Guess I'm not falling back asleep," he grunts.

I rest my head on his chest and he strokes my arm.

"What are you thinking?" I ask him.

"That I'm hungry," he says and I roll my eyes with a smile.

"No, about ... everything, about Greenwich," I clarify.

"I don't know, it's a lot to handle. I guess I'm mad that we didn't know. I wish we could have left years ago," he says. I nod against his chest.

"I know."

"I mean how did they even get away with it?" Joey wonders out loud and I wonder the same thing.

I sit up.

"You know what, we're not going to figure these things out now. We don't know and we don't know who to ask, but there is one thing we can figure out," I say.

"What's that?"

"This world. We can finally live in a normal world. There's so much we don't know and I want to experience it all!" I exclaim excitedly.

" _All_ of it?" Joey asks.

I instantly worry when he says it.

"Well, with you," I say to avoid clarifying.

He nods.

"Me too," he says and I accept that answer. I can only take everyday one step at a time. Right now Joey and I are in this together and until it looks like that is going to change I don't want to ask Joey how he feels about certain things because I'm too scared of what his response might be.

We order some breakfast and then decide to hit the road.

* * *

After a few hours, Joey is of course hungry for lunch, but there aren't many options on the road we're on, so we end up at a local pub.

We are surprised to find people actual drinking in the day. There was no day drinking in Greenwich, a pub would only serve food until five pm. Another new thing learned.

We sit down and ask for some menus. As we are looking over what to order we already notice some people getting pretty buzzed when it's only two pm. We order our food and we're keeping pretty quiet. We don't want to discuss our town or situation and besides that well, we've talked about everything else.

As we get our food, a man comes over to my side.

"Mhm looks pretty tasty," he says.

"Uh, yes looks good," I reply uncomfortably.

"I was talking about you," he grins and I'm instantly grossed out. I'm definitely not used to people being so forward, but more than that the man is a mess. His clothes look dirty, his hat has rips along the edges and he's got facial hair down to his shirt. Then, he spits out a dirty line like that... I'm not flattered.

"Um, thanks?" I say, having no idea how to respond to something like that.

"Hey, man will you let us eat?" Joey speaks up.

"Oh, someone upset I'm using my freedom of speech. It's a free country dumb shit," the man spits.

Joey pushes the bar stool out and stands up. The gross man straightens up and narrows his eyes. He cracks his knuckles.

I jump up from my chair, still in between them.

"Hey, no let's not do this," I breathe nervously.

"Why, your pretty boyfriend wants me to fix his face," the man huffs with an evil grin. I turn to Joey.

"No, were leaving. Please, Joey let's go, please can we go," I plead to him. He lets out a frustrated breath and then his face relaxes.

"Alright," he says under his breath. The man starts chuckling, laughing at us walking away, but luckily he doesn't follow us. We get in the car and Joey just starts driving.

We've never experienced fighting over your significant over. This was more unmarked territory for us, but I guess there wasn't much else for us to say so we don't discuss it.

We end up stopping again since we barely ate at all.

I guess the next place is our fault for not really looking at the sign. We must be in a bad part of town because the next place we walk into is a low lit room with blaring music and flashing lights. There's a bar and then a stage with naked women dancing and swinging around poles. I'm not kidding, I've never seen anything like this in my life. These women are naked, completely naked and on a stage in front of actual people. I mean there are only maybe three people sitting and watching, but I'm in complete shock at this facility.

This has to be a bad thing, this can't be normal, can it? Is this how free and wild the world is? Why would these girls do this? I turn and Joey's in a frozen stance as well. I finally pull him out of there, too appalled to watch it any longer and not wanting Joey to see this anyway.

We get outside and he doesn't say anything. I feel so uncomfortable, I don't know what to say either. We both take a moment to take in what we just witnessed. Then it suddenly hits me, would Joey have wanted to stay there and watch that? Would he rather be in there will a bunch of loose, naked women than with me? I realize I'm limiting him, I'm restricting him from experiencing everything, from experiencing things like this. But it was outrageous, how could I just _be okay_ with him watching naked women dancing? I can't be okay with it, but I suddenly feel bad that I'm the one deciding he can't see it. I'm feeling torn, when I realize something else. We haven't had sex since the first night we left. It's been almost two days. Given the freedom we have, given that we've never spent so much time together, and we have literally nothing stopping us, we could be having sex as much as we want. And we're not, I know a lot has happened and there's a lot going on, but what if it's because Joey is losing interest? What if more and more he will think about the building behind us and wish he was here rather than in a car with me? I'm freaking out suddenly and I start pacing and I walk away from him. He starts to follow me and I just head to the car because where else would I go.

I don't get in. I lean against the car and bury my face in my hands.

"Are you okay?" Joey asks me.

I remove my hands from my face and look up at him so scared to ask the question I'm about to ask.

"Do you want to go back in there?"

He looks surprised by this and hesitates, contemplating how to answer.

"No? Right?" he asks, unsure.

"It's what you want. I can't tell you what you want. Do you want to go back in there or not?" I repeat.

"I feel like I should say no," he says.

I sigh.

"Joey," my voice is breaking a bit, actually saying this is even harder than I thought.

I look him right in the eyes and just ask.

"Do you want to date other people?"

He doesn't answer right away. He scratches the back of his neck and looks down.

He looks back at me.

"I... well, maybe we should try to experience... new things," he says nervously.

I fell like someone is slowly ripping a hole into my heart. I don't want to break down, I'm trying so hard not to cry.

"New things meaning new...people," I clarify in a very broken voice, making it pretty obvious how this is effecting me.

His face completely falls now, he looks so guilty. He looks like he feels so awful he even said it.

"Well, I just... Rachel, I love you I do, but we really haven't done anything. I mean finding out how different everything is, maybe we should just... experiment a little? I mean, you're not curious... at all?"

I think about it, I guess everything about this world is curious. But the difference for me is Joey has become my entire world, I feel so deeply when I'm with him and right now, no one else sounds better.

But I can't be the person holding him back. If he's going to be unhappy then there's no point.

"Yes," I lie to him.

He looks surprised, but waits for me to say more.

"Okay, lets try it. Lets see other people." I say the words, but I feel nothing but misery. This is the last thing I want, but Joey has risked everything for me. We've both changed our entire lives around, we ran away together. How can I not at least give him a chance to see what he wants, to figure out his life for himself. I just have to hope he comes back to me.


	8. Chapter 8

Joey and I decide we will drive until we find a more populated town and then try to settle more there and stay for awhile. I guess, how else would we try new things or meet others if we are always on the move?

It's an uncomfortable car ride. Joey tries to keep conversation going and act like nothing is out of the ordinary, but every conversation just dies down from short replies and low energy thanks to me. I can't help it, I am in no mood to talk to the man who's hurting me the most right now.

Luckily, we find a lively town by nightfall. We find a cheap motel in the town and check in... to separate rooms. This brings me right back to a dark and lonely place.

I walk into my single motel room alone and drop my bag down.

* * *

An hour later, I hear a knock at the door. It's Joey.

"Hey," he smiles.

"Hey," I breathe tiredly.

I open the door fully for him to enter the room. He walks in and I notice a newspaper in his hands.

"I picked this up for the comic section but I found a job section, with job openings. I guess here you just apply to whatever job you want! I figure we might want to look into it before we run out of money," Joey explains.

"Good idea," I comment.

He frowns a bit at my continued lack of enthusiasium.

"There's some cool stuff in here. I was thinking of maybe going for the fry chef," he continues.

"Do you even cook?" I ask.

"No, but I bet I would get free food, flipping burgers all day," he wiggles his eyebrows excitedly.

I give him a unenthusiastic look.

"Or I guess I could just work at a store or something, I don't know. Do you want to look?" he offers, holding out the newspaper. I nod and accept the paper from him.

I suddenly realize, I have no idea what I want to do. How do I decide where I want to work for the rest of my life? I've never had this much freedom...ever. I try to think of things I enjoy, but not much is coming to mind, especially being in such a low place right now. I look over the page of jobs, but I feel too tired to concentrate.

"Could I hold onto this?" I ask Joey.

"Sure, I can always grab another one, they're downstairs," he informs me. I just nod, staring down at the paper. I can sense this makes him sad and he feels uncomfortable still standing here when I'm making it more than obvious I have nothing to say to him.

"Okay, well do you want to meet up for breakfast tomorrow?" he asks shyly.

"How about lunch?"

"Alright," he agrees.

He waits a moment and then walks out.

I feel bad I'm being rude, but I can't help it. I can't help how I feel and my feelings are completely taking over, like they always do.

I take a few hours to be by myself. I keep looking over the job listings in the paper and I can't figure out what to do. Finally, I decide on a temporary solution. For now I'll just work at a coffee shop. That seems easy enough and at least it won't be sitting at a desk all day like my last job. It'll get me started while I consider what I want to do.

* * *

The next morning I wake up and head to the coffee shop.

when I get there, there's a good amount of people and only one or two workers. I walk over to the counter and find a pale looking man with grey hair working.

"Hi, um I would like to apply for a job here?" I ask, crumbling the paper nervously in my hands.

"You're hired," the man states, wide eyed.

"Uh, really? That's it, don't I have to formally apply or something?"

"No, that's ok. It feels right to me," the man says.

"Okay, wow thank you so much...uh...," I look down at his name tag to try and thank him properly.

"Gunther," I read off his name tag.

The man just smiles and continues to just stand there.

"So, is there a training period, when do I start?" I ask uncomfortably.

"I'll train you, we can start right now! Or tomorrow...whenever works for you, I'll be here," the man responds incredibly fast.

"Oh ok, I guess tomorrow is great," I say.

Wow, who knew this job thing would be so easy. I sit down on one of the stools at the counter.

"Actually, could I get a coffee now?" I ask, figuring I might as well have my breakfast. The man scurries over to the pot and pours me a cup.

"It's on the house, um what's your name by the way?"

"Oh thank you! It's Rachel."

* * *

I decide to spend some time at the coffee shop and I like it. It's nice, friends come to hang out, waitresses joke around with their customers, and a piano player even comes in to play a few tunes. I enjoy just sitting and watching the social life here so much that I lose track of time and have to rush back to the motel to meet Joey.

Joey and I find a diner down the street to grab lunch.

We get seated and I immediately pick up my menu to start looking through it.

"You look really nice today," Joey says.

I look over my menu and he cracks a small smile at me.

"Thanks Joey," I say softly.

I did take extra time for my hair and makeup today since I thought I would be trying a lot harder to get this job than I did.

"Oh, I got a job today," I tell him, placing my menu down.

"Already wow, that's great! Where?"

"A coffee shop, a few streets away. I can walk there," I tell him.

"Well, look at you, already a working lady again," Joey smirks.

I smile until it makes me think of my last job. Which makes me think of every lunch break Joey and I would sneak away from our jobs and meet at a hotel. Thinking about those exciting moments of exploring each other's bodies and feeling so good and free for the first time in my life, makes me feel so much worse in this moment.

I pick my menu back up and busy myself with options. I see Joey do the same.

The rest of the lunch is fine. I try to make myself more pleasant and talk a bit more. Then, we go back to the motel and go to our separate rooms.

I decide to take myself out to the town and shop a bit. I know I haven't even started my new job, but I need new work outfits...right? And besides, what else am I going to do all day?

I explore the town for most of the day and treat myself to dinner. I don't see Joey for the rest of the night.

* * *

The next morning I'm actually excited about my new job and I hurry to the coffee shop right when I'm done getting ready.

My boss, Gunther, happily starts training me immediately. I spend nearly the whole day there.

I leave the coffee shop at five pm and basically skip back to the motel. I love this job, I love walking around and talking to all the customers. I love that I chose this job for myself and I love the fact that I can leave any time I want. I'm truly overwhelmed with these new feelings of freedom. At first, they scared me, but suddenly I'm feeling so invigorated by them.

I get to the motel and stop in front of my door. I look three doors down, to Joey's room.

I want to tell him how good my day was. I walk down and knock on his door. I'm smiling from ear to ear.

He opens the door and suddenly instead of telling him about my day, my hands find his face and I kiss him. I don't even realize what I'm doing until I'm taking my lips off his. My smile disappears as I see his surprised expression through his parted lips.

"Oh, I don't - know why I did that. I - I'm sorry," I spill out, feeling my face burn to a boiling red shade.

I honestly don't know why I just kissed him, why did I do that?

Joey finally closes his mouth and seems like he's thinking about how to respond.

"I shouldn't have done that... that was dumb...I really don't know-" I blabber on until Joey suddenly covers my mouth with his. He's kissing me, we're kissing again. I should stop this right? We shouldn't be kissing, what are we doing? We're supposed to be dating other people and it's been nothing, but awkward between us for days now. But his lips are just as soft and perfect as I remember and I have no strength to stop this. I fall and kiss him back even harder. He matches my intensity and he starts pulling me into his room. I hear him kick the door close as our lips haven't separated. He finally gives us a chance to breathe as he starts lowering his mouth to my neck. Then, he's down to my chest, kissing any visible skin, while pushing my shirt up and moving his lips down my body as he exposes more and more skin. When he travels back up, he hooks my legs and picks me up. I gasp with a laugh, not expecting this. He lays me on the bed carefully and I consider stopping this again.

"Wait," I say before he's even gotten a chance to lay over me on the bed. He stands up, not completing his move to the bed.

He just waits for me, taking a breath in.

I look at him and realize I don't care if this may be the last time I get to be with him, I want one last time. If he's going to find someone else, I deserve one last time with him. So instead of saying more I simply pull my shirt up and over my head. I undo my bra, throw it to the ground.

"Okay continue," I state.

He hesitates for a moment, but then pulls his shirt off and climbs over me.

He doesn't ask me anything and just continues with his lips until he's completely undressed me and has kissed every trace of skin on my body.

I'm in utter bliss, being spoiled with kisses. Before I know it, he has his pants off and we're having sex just like we always have - with all the same passion, patience and attention for each other.

Afterwards, we end up drifting off to sleep, in each other's arms. At some point, in the middle of the night, I wake up and look over at Joey's shadowed face in the dim light. I slowly pick up his arm wrapped around me and place it gently down on the bed. I roll out from under the covers and sneak back to my own motel room.

I wanted one last night with him, but I don't want to wake up next to him tomorrow morning unless he's one hundred percent mine.


	9. Chapter 9

I sleep for a few more hours and then I work another shift at the coffee shop. I'm glad I told Gunther my schedule is very free and he ended up scheduling me pretty much every day. So, now I at least have a bit of a distraction. Unfortunately, it's not insanely helpful today. I keep reminding myself that sleeping with Joey last night changes nothing. We are not madly in love and perfect again, nothing is changing. It was a spur of the moment thing, I made the mistake of kissing him and he was horny and it ends up I was horny and so it just happened.

I tell myself these things over and over, but it does nothing. I'm still secretly hoping I'll go back to the motel tonight and Joey will knock on my door. I'm praying he'll tell me he changed his mind and he just wants to be with me forever. Then, he'll swing me into his arms and onto the bed and we'll be happier than ever. See, I have to tell myself that's just a stupid wish, a stupid fantasy and that's not going to happen. But I'm a hopeless fool.

I'm so lost in my thoughts all day that even when my shift ends, I decide to stay later at the coffee shop.

I hang out and grab a light bite there as my dinner.

I've become pretty friendly with one of the other waitresses named Mindy. She decides to stay and chat with me after her shift, which I appreciate. At one point, she even starts telling me about this guy she's seeing and how it's not going well. I have to remind myself how normal it is to talk about sex and relationships here. I try to keep from looking shocked every time she goes into an insanely personal detail. I want to tell her about Joey, but I'm still not sure if I can trust her. I feel because of where Joey and I are from, it's still too risky to just go telling anyone. So, I happily indulge in Mindy's love life and keep quiet.

It does get my mind off things and Mindy and I end up hanging out, talking for hours.

It's ten pm by the time I head back to the motel.

As I'm walking back to the motel I'm back in the mind set I was all day - Joey. I wonder if he tried knocking on my door already today? I never did tell him my work schedule. I wonder if he'll say anything or maybe he'll ask to get breakfast tomorrow so we can talk. I'm trying not to get excitedly by these possibilities, but I can't help myself. I love him and I want him back no matter how much the situation hurts me.

As I'm walking up the stairs, I hear some laughter and I suddenly spot Joey with a woman. I freeze in my tracks and stay hidden in the stairwell as I peak out and watch them walk to his door together. He unlocks the door and then stretches his arm out to let her go first. They both walk in and the door shuts.

I let my body sink against the banisters of the staircase. He found someone, last night really did mean nothing. Suddenly, it feels hard to breathe, my head is spinning. How could he do this? Tears start building up and I quickly hurry to my room and lock myself in. I crash onto my bed in tears.

Rachel, stop crying, you knew this would happen. This is exactly what you knew was going to happen. In fact, I let this happen, I agreed to it. I bury my face deeper into the pillow, soaking it with my tears.

I hate myself, but I had to ... I had to agree to it. What kind of life would Joey and I had if he was always wondering what else was out there. I understanding tasting this new freedom and wanting to run wild with it.

I try to calm myself down, tell myself Joey is only doing what we both agreed on. But the idea of him with another woman is so sickening, I can't even bare it. And they are so close, just three doors down. What if he's kissing her the way he kissed me? The way he kissed me _last night?_ Now, I really hate that I kissed him, that we slept together only last night. God, I hate this.

* * *

The next day, I wake up after a night of terrible sleep. I don't have to be in at work until mid afternoon. So, I just lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling.

I lay there for about an hour before I roll out of bed and decide to take a long bath to try and relax. It does nothing, but make my fingertips prune. While I'm pruning, I try to think of how happy I am. I try to remember how much I hated my old life and how thrilling it was to escape. Unfortunately, it's a lot tougher when you're dealing with heartbreak, I guess that is one thing no one had to deal with back in Greenwich... unless of course your spouse was one of the few that ran away too. I start thinking about my parents and Barry. I wonder what Barry thinks of me... he probably hates me. I wonder if he gets rematched? I'm sure he does. I think about all my friends too. I do miss all these people, but I would never want to step back into that jail cell of a society for even one second.

I hear a knock at my door.

"One minute!" I call loudly, hoping if it's housekeeping, they won't just walk right in.

I get out of the tub and grab a towel. I wrap the towel around me and hurry to the door. I open the door, it's Joey.

My breath freezes and my chest feels heavy.

"Oh, sorry I didn't realize you were... busy," Joey apologizes after seeing my towel and wet hair.

"It's fine," I say and just walk back into the room, leaving the door open so he'll follow. He does and I hear the door close. I sit on my bed, holding onto my towel to make sure it doesn't slip.

"You know, I can come back," he says, keeping his distance from me.

"Joey, its fine, just get on with it," I growl, growing angry. I don't want to hear about his new girlfriend and how he's leaving me for that woman.

I stare at the floor, crossing my arms over my towel.

"Okay, well I got a job," he tells me.

I look up, not expecting that to be the news.

"Oh, well that's good. Where?"

"A store in the mall. I'm the uh cologne guy," he answers.

"What's that?"

"I spray the cologne and try to sell it and all. I have to buy a suit for it," he explains.

I nod.

"Well, congrats," I fake a smile for a brief second.

"Thanks," he says and I keep quiet, waiting for him to say more.

He doesn't say anything else and after an awkward moment he finally breaks the silence.

"Well, then I guess I'll head back to my room," he says.

"That's it?" I snap.

He turns back, startled.

"What?"

"There's nothing else you want to tell me?"

"Uh, I don't think so."

I stand up, furious he doesn't even have the decency to tell me. I start storming back to the bathroom.

"Rachel, wait is this about the other night?" he stops me.

I turn in complete disbelief.

"Uh, ya think?!" I yell.

"Ok look, I don't think it was a bad thing, I mean things like that are gonna happen, you're not mad about it are you?" he asks.

I know I shouldn't be mad when this is what we agreed on, but I can't stand him talking about it so casually. I shake my head and continue my walk to he bathroom.

"Hey, come on, you kissed me first," he yells back and my feet come to a dead halt.

He thinks we're talking about _us_ sleeping together? I can not believe that he is _still_ not telling me about the woman he brought back to his room. How could he still be keeping this from me, does he think that little of me, that he thinks it's not even worth mentioning?

"You're right... it was a mistake. We can forget it ever happened," I say to him, speaking about us now.

I walk into the bathroom and close the door.

"Rachel, maybe we should talk about this," he tries, but I ignore him behind the door. I wait until I hear him finally leave and I cry out all my frustration.

* * *

The next day, I have a day off. But I can't be cooped up in my stingy motel room all day so I decide I'm going to head to the coffee shop, to hang out and maybe see Mindy. I hang out there for a few hours and head back to my motel around lunch time. I decide I'm going to head into the town again.

As I'm getting back to my room, I hear a door opening and look over. It's Joey's door, but it's not Joey walking out. It's the woman, the same woman that was over two nights ago. The same woman who's twisting the knife that Joey left in my heart.

She walks hurriedly past me, not even looking up.

It makes me angry that Joey can't tell me this is happening. I mean we ran away together and I know we agreed we are going to try dating other people, but he can at least stop leaving me hanging. Just tell me it's over. My frustrated feelings won't stop building and I finally storm down to his door and knock loudly until he answers, looking concerned from the intrusive banging.

I walk in, not even bothering to wait for an invite.

I pace in an angry circle as he waits for me to get my words together.

"Why won't you talk to me?" I finally start.

"What do you mean, I do talk to you."

"Why won't you just tell me it's over," my voice starts to break and Joey notices.

He swallows a knot in his throat.

"It's not," he says softly.

I try to hold back my tears, I'm hanging on by a thread at this point.

I press my lips together, trying to stop any quivering.

"Then, who's that woman," I finally get out.

He takes a second before answering, probably processing the fact that I even know about her.

"Someone from work," he tells me.

"So, just end it. I don't want to wait around, that's not fair to me and you know it," I try to say firmly, but it's riddled with a shakiness instead.

"I don't want to end it," he opposes.

I close my eyes trying to force the tears back.

"Don't do this, Joey please," I whisper.

"Nothing happened," he says.

I look up at him. He moves towards me.

"Nothing happened," he repeats.

"How can I believe you, she was in your motel room," I argue.

He looks down.

"I couldn't do it," he tells me.

"What?"

He shakes his head.

"I couldn't even kiss her... it felt too wrong," he confesses and suddenly my chest feels a tiny bit lighter, it's as if there's the smallest ray of light creeping through the dark tunnel.

"Nothing?" I ask.

He shakes his head no and then takes the final few steps to me so we're actually close to each other.

"Rachel, I love you. I'm in love with you, you know that... I hope you know that," he says.

I shake my head, finally a tear is sliding down my cheek. I wipe it away quickly.

"Then, why would you even try?" I question him.

"Because I was mad. I was mad we were trapped in that stupid town with the wrong people. We would have gone on forever with Cindy and Barry if you never did something. I hate finding out how much we were forced to do everything. And then we got here and found out we have so much freedom and I just... I just got caught up in it. It sounded so great and I didn't realize it was a waste of time. I should have just realized you were always the one I wanted to be with," he spills his heart out.

I'm sad and happy and angry all at once. It's everything I want to hear, but he put me through so much pain just to get here.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you hated me," he says.

Now, another tear slides down my cheek. The love of my life thought I hated him.

I don't even wipe the tear away and instead I lunge foward and kiss his stupid mouth. I kiss him again and again until I'm so desperate for his lips I can't stop. He's kissing me back and we're wildly kissing until I finally pull back and smack his arm.

He looks confused. I smack his arm again and he pulls back, trying to take cover from my attacks.

I smack him again and again until finally he grabs my wrists.

"Rachel, what are you doing?!"

I let my body relax as he's still holding my hands hostage.

"I hate you for doing that to me, but I could never hate you. I love you Joey," I breathe out.

"I love you too... are you going to hit me again?" he asks nervously.

I smile and shake my head no.

He carefully lets my arms go, still waiting with caution.

I smirk at his behavior and slowly lean back in. When he realizes it's not an attack he follows my lead and our lips gently touch again. He kisses me softly and I let my body rest into his.

I'm ready for him to carry me to the bed, but he doesn't. He pulls back and looks at me, seriously now.

"We have to go back," he suddenly claims.

"What?" I ask, hoping he's only kidding.

"We have to go back. Rachel, if everyone can leave like us, we can't let them just stay there, living in a cage!"

"But we can't. Who knows what they'll do. I doubt anyone has ever gone back. We can't, it's too dangerous!" I fret.

"Rachel, if we go back we'll be living proof that it's better out here and then everyone will follow us. They can't lock up an entire town," he argues.

This makes me insanely nervous. I don't want to go back and risk the possibility of being separated from Joey. I don't even want the possibility of having to live my old life again. But he's right, I feel so guilty that everyone in Greenwich doesn't know how great it is outside that town. I want my family and friends to be happy. I at least owe it to Barry for what I did to him.

"Okay, lets go back."


	10. Chapter 10

Joey seems rushed to get back. I thought we would take our time to reconnect, to enjoy being back together, but he suggests we pack right away and hurries to his room to get started. I don't know why his urge to save everyone from town is suddenly this strong, but I don't want to stop him. I feel the need to help my loved ones, but I'm too crippled by fear to feel that motivated over the matter. In fact, it worries me more how urgent Joey is making this.

I get packed and we check out of the motel and get right back on the road. It feels like we never left the car. Joey and I both call our jobs while traveling. We tell them there's a family emergency and we are not sure how long we will be gone. Gunther is fine with this and tells me my job and he will be waiting for me to return... sometimes my boss is a little strange. Joey tells me his boss isn't too happy being that he maybe worked all of one day, but sounded empathetic in the end. Joey doesn't seem bothered.

We drive for the rest of day. I'm basically falling asleep by the time Joey finally pulls into another motel and we stop for the night. We check in and without even discussing it, we crawl into the bed and into each other's arms. I love being so close to Joey again, smelling his hair, his skin, his entire scent. After only a minute or so, my mind can't help, but wander.

"Aren't you scared?" I ask aloud. Joey stays quiet for a moment. I turn over so we are facing one another.

"A little," he responds.

We gradually start to see more than just the outline of our faces in the dim lighting.

"I'm scared," I whisper to him.

"I know, but I think it's only right we do this," he tells me.

"I know, I want to go back, I just can't help, but be scared," I admit to him.

"Hey, I'm not letting anything happen to you, you know that right? No one is taking you away or locking you up," he tells me in a firm voice. It does settle my nerves. I just love that we're back. I hated every minute we spent apart. I lean in and kiss him gently. He kisses me back and then strokes my face with the back of his hand. I grab onto his hand and then flip back over, wrapping his arm around me. We drift off to sleep.

* * *

We keep driving the next day. It's hard for things to feel normal when I'm more and more on edge with everyday we get closer to our old town. I guess we are both on edge because even today not much happens between us. When we check into a second hotel for the night we merely kiss goodnight and get straight into bed. We do discuss our "plan". Basically, we plan to separate. Joey will drop me off at my old house so I can talk to Barry and he will head to Cindy. After that, we will find our parents and friends and hope they can all help us spread the message.

We drift off to another nervous night before we wake up to one last day of driving.

Joey thinks we will reach Greenwich by late afternoon. My bones are literally rattling with fear and neither of us say a word as noon is approaching on the car clock. Finally, around 1 pm, we make a stop, but neither of us have an appetite. So, we use the bathroom and buy a bottle of water.

As I'm walking back to the car, I know this is it. It'll be another hour or two and then we will be back in the hell we left. We will have to face our family, our friends, our neighbors... everyone.

I hate thinking this might be the last time Joey and I are free, but I can't help, but imagine the worst. I get in the car and turn to Joey who is about to start the car up again. He puts the key in the ignition, but I place my hand over his before he gets a chance to turn it. He pauses and looks at me.

"Joey, maybe we should make one last good memory... just in case," I suggest. He removes his hand from the key so I remove my hand as well.

"Rachel, we're going to be fine," he reminds me, but it's not working as well to settle my nerves.

"Ok, but we've barely had time to reconnect. I think it might relax us," I try.

"Rachel, we spent two nights together and you didn't need to reconnect then. You're only saying this now because your scared, but it's like I told you-" he starts telling me, but I don't need to hear it again. I jump up and climb over him, placing myself on his lap, in between him and the steering wheel.

He looks a little disappointed at my stubbornness.

"You're telling me you don't want to?" I test him hoping he'll cave.

"Not if you're reasons are only out of fear," he say sternly.

"They're not-I'm horny, really," I tell him.

He narrows his eyes at me with a smirk.

"Well, I'm not in the mood so how about we save this for tonight instead."

I narrow my eyes back at him.

"Not in the mood?" I challenge and I press my hips down into his crotch and start circling my hips right over his dick.

"He-hey that's not fair," he quickly stammers and tries to push my waist up and off him. I don't budge and keeping pushing my hips back down and it turns into a struggle of him trying to lift me back to my seat and me trying to keep my ass planted.

"Arggg alright!" I finally pant out, frustrated. I annoyingly crawl back to the passenger seat. I buckle my seatbelt, cross my arms and huff an angry sigh.

"Rachel, come on, I don't want you to be mad at me," Joey pleads, but I stay in my childlike pose and ignore him.

"Rach, please," he tries again and places his hand on my shoulder, but I still keep quiet.

"Here if you want I'll give you a memory," he says and suddenly his hand travel down to my crotch and up my skirt. I instantly squeeze my legs together and grab his hand, bringing it back in plain sight.

"Joey!" I exclaim shocked.

"What? I don't want you to sit here horny," he smiles widely at me.

I smirk at his ridiculous actions.

"I can't believe you," I try to hold back a laugh that's crippling up my throat. I think he can tell I find this amusing.

"I'm fine, I'll just have to be uncomfortable the rest of the ride," I state.

"Hey, I'm the one that has to drive with a boner."

"But you don't have to!" I turn back to him frantically, too excited that he might actually be turned on.

"No," he points a figure at me and I slouch back in my chair.

He finally turns the key in the ignition and we start driving again.

* * *

Eventually, we start recognizing the roads right outside town and finally we pass the Greenwich sign. It's funny they even have a sign... who ever leaves, at least no one is supposed to leave, and I would bet Joey and I are definitely the first to ever come back.

We drive into the town and no one is shooting us down or beaming any sirens. Everything is quiet and normal. Joey keeps driving until we get to my street and I can barely breathe at this point. My whole body feels heavy and I'm terrified. He finally stops the car outside my house. I don't move. Joey puts the car in park and looks over at me.

"You okay?" he speaks in a hushed tone.

I try to breathe in a deep breath, but my body can barely do anything at this point.

"Rachel, he's not going to hate you," Joey says as if he is reading my mind. I look at him, shocked he knew I was thinking it.

"How do you know?" I whisper.

"Because you're saving him. We're saving everyone from this place," he tells me and I realize that's true. It makes me feel a little better. I breathe slightly steadier now.

"Besides, who could ever hate you," Joey adds sweetly.

"You're just saying that because you love me," I smile tensely.

"That's true, so even if he hates you, I still love you."

I smile at his words and his face. I lean in quickly and kiss him. I try to remember the feeling of his lips, every part of the warm sensation his kisses give me.

I let him go and take one last look at him. He nods his head.

I get out of the car and force myself to the front door. I open the door and look back at Joey one last time who's waiting for me to go inside. I walk in and I hear him drive away.

I close the door so gently, as if I'm sneaking in. I stand frozen for a moment, so scared to face Barry. I finally walk into the house and soon realize he's not downstairs.

I make my way up the stairs and hear the tv on in the bedroom. I see the door slightly ajar and I know he's in there. I walk to the door. I take a deep breath and then push it open.

Barry is lying on the bed. He freezes when he locks eyes with me.


	11. Chapter 11

I stare at Barry. Neither of us move or say a word. It feels like this is the longest moment of my life.

Finally, Barry carefully reaches over and grabs the remote without taking his shell-shocked eyes off me. He clicks the tv off and we are left in silence. Another long minute goes by.

"Hi," I finally speak in a cracked voice.

He takes another moment to process this.

"Rachel?" he breathes in disbelief. I nod my head and try to smile, but I feel too guilty. Barry finally starts to get himself up from the bed and he stands.

"How is this possible?" he asks.

"What do you mean?" I question him back, concerned.

"How are you back?"

"Did you think I was dead, what did they tell you?" I ask, wondering a million things.

"They said you were drafted for war and we were never to speak about it for the good of our country," he tells me.

I shake my head in disbelief. That's what they went with, how is that believable?

"And you believed that?" I ask the stupidest question. "Never mind, of course you did. Although, you have to admit that's a little stretched don't you think? There's suddenly a draft and yet only two of us get chosen. And I get chosen over my husband?" I try to point out, growing angry again with this incredibly fake society.

He walks closer to me as if to make sure I'm real and I'm surprised he's not ready to kill me yet.

"So, what happened? Where did you go? What's going on Rachel?" he presses.

It hits me in this moment, he doesn't know. How could he know? I never confessed about Joey. I never told him a thing and the second I left he was told I was fighting for my country, what else would he believe? I realize I have to tell my husband I abandoned him on purpose, that I cheated on him and violated every law the man has ever lived by.

I take a large gulp and try to settle my nerves.

"Barry, there was no draft. In fact, no one forced me to leave at all and I came back on my own too," I tell him gently.

This confuses him more than ever. He looks completely dumbfounded at me.

"Barry, do you like your job?" I ask him.

"Yeah it's fine, why are you changing the subject?" he looks at me crazy.

"I'm not - look what if I told you, you can apply to any job you want, you can choose to do whatever you feel like and you could even marry someone other than me?"

He backs up and his eyes widen.

"Rachel, why are you talking like this, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

"Barry, listen to me. I left and outside this town is an entirely different world. We are in a prison here," I try to tell him.

"What? You're acting crazy Rachel, are you sure you feel okay?" he retracts.

"Barry I feel fine-"

"Did they do something to you, give you some medicine?"

"Barry, I slept with someone else!" I shout at him.

He freezes, his chest falls and I instantly regret everything.

"Wha-what? How is that possible?" he stammers.

I hate this, I hate hurting him.

"I'm sorry Barry, I really really am so sorry. But I was so unhappy and now I know I don't have to be. We can leave Barry, we can all leave and be happy."

I feel tears building, looking at his broken and shocked face.

He stays quiet for a moment.

"Barry, please say something," I plead.

He shakes his head in disbelief, I've never seen him so hurt.

"How can I? There's no such thing as deceit here, how- I can't understand..." he chokes. I rush over to him and try to put my hands on his shoulders, but he backs away from me.

"Barry I hate that I did this to you, but I needed to see if I could be happy. And I want you to be happy, I want you to be so happy. All you have to do is leave with me and Joey and hopefully everyone. Everyone has to get out of here. You have no idea how much freedom is out there!" I tell him.

He shakes his head no and suddenly his eyes grow mean.

"No, I would never go anywhere with you. You are a soulless human. Leave my house," he demands.

"What? Barry no please you have to believe me-"

"Get out! Get out of my house your home wrecker!" he yells and I jump in my skin at his loud and incredibly harsh tone.

"Go!" he shouts again and I hurry out of the room, down the stairs and out the front door.

I cry, I can't help, but cry. I destroyed his life and he won't even let me help him, he won't even accept anything from me.

I start running to Joey's.

I bang on the door until Cindy answers. I don't even play dumb or hesitate for a second.

"Cindy, you believe us don't you?" I blurt out. Joey approaches the door behind her.

"I really don't understand," she worriedly answers looking back to Joey. Joey shakes his head no at me. I start falling apart even more.

"No one believes us! No one is going to leave!" I start bawling my eyes out and Joey rushes past Cindy to comfort me.

"Hey, hey calm down, it's okay," Joey holds me tightly and I cry into his chest.

"No, it's not!" I bawl even harder.

I break away from Joey's embrace.

"Cindy, do you really believe you and Joey are meant to be together and you two are honestly perfect for each other?" I spill through my tears. She is about to answer and I can already sense the typical response she is about to give me. I wipe my eyes viciously and take a step closer to her, which makes her unsettled.

"Cindy, come on. Forget about everything you've ever known. Really think with your heart. If you were given a choice to choose anyone to be matched with. Do you really believe Joey is your perfect match?" I press more.

She looks at both of us and then finally shakes her head.

"Okay no... I don't," she nearly whispers as if others might hear.

"See, there you go!" Joey jumps in excitedly. He puts his hands on Cindy's shoulders and turns her to him.

"This is what I'm trying to tell you. But if you just trust us you can find that person, you can do whatever you want with your life," Joey exclaims to her and I nod my head wildly.

"I don't know, I've never gone anywhere..." Cindy frets.

"Neither have we until we just did it and you know what, it was amazing! Cindy you have to trust us. You have to realize you're living in a town of lies. I mean they told you we went to war, but here we are telling you we didn't. It was a lie. We left and we're leaving again and we want everyone to come with us," I explain.

She looks at us, unsure and scared.

"Please Cindy, we just want you to be happy. You can always come back," Joey tries.

She bite her lip in distress.

"Okay, I'll try," she finally says and Joey and I practically jump up and down celebrating.

"Great okay, pack a bag and then tell everyone you can. Your family, friends. Say anything you can to convince them," Joey urges her.

"Tell them Joey and I are living proof, we'll talk to them if you can't," I add.

Cindy nods her head, still feeling nervous, but she heads into the house to do as we told her.

* * *

After a few hours of trying to talk to all our friends and family, we get most on board. I think our friends and families mainly say yes just so they won't lose us again.

It's not the whole town, but it's a good amount of people, at least mostly everyone we know. Finally, Joey and I decide we've done our best and we can always come back to try and convince more in the future, but for now we want to drive out of town with our friends and family and show them a bit of the real world. So, we all get in our cars, there are maybe fifteen cars following us as we start driving to the edge of our town to leave for the second time.

As we are approaching the sign for our town, there's a blockade of police cars. We brake. They also constructed a gate on the road so we can no longer pass through.

I panic in my chest. This is what I feared, I guess I just actually thought we were in the clear since we returned and no one bothered us.

Joey and I freeze as the line of cars behind us come to a stop as well.

"Please exit your vehicles!" A cop yells through a megaphone so everyone can hear.

He starts repeating this over and over until we all start getting out of our cars.

"Please return to your homes immediately!" Another cop shouts through another megaphone.

I hear a couple people quickly scurrying back to their houses, leaving their cars in the street. Joey and I stay standing. We look back and see our friends and family still behind us. Most of the people behind us start moving foward so everyone can see the blockade of police.

"You can't force us to stay here!" Joey calls back at them.

A few of the cops start walking closer to us.

"Listen up, there is order to a society, without order, everything falls apart!" A cop loudly remarks.

"There is order in the real world. This place has us tied to our beds," Joey fights back.

This angers the cop visibly.

"This man is wrong! We have led a very civilized society up until this point and there has never been a need to question authority before therefore these two unruly individuals are the problem and so you are both under arrest!" The cop speaks loud enough for everyone to hear.

The officer then moves to me and grabs my wrists, pulling them behind my back and reaching for his handcuffs. I struggle to break free from him, delaying his ability to handcuff me right away.

"Hey let her go!" Joey jumps, but another officer runs and pushes Joey to the ground, attempting to handcuff him.

The officer is still harshly pulling at my arms as I'm struggling to escape.

"Hey, take your hands off my daughter!" I hear my dad yell and then see him charge at the officer. Another cop runs to take a hold of my dad.

"Dad!" I scream seeing the horror of them knocking him down.

The three of us are handcuffed and pushed to the ground. We can see everyone else is too scared to stand up for us. They have never risen their voices in their lives. They've never disobeyed anything. I'm actually shocked my father even faught for me at all.

I notice some others from the town, coming out from their homes, starting to approach this scene. They must be overhearing all this. I think Joey notices the crowd building as well.

"You can't keep us all here! You can't stop us all!" Joey calls from the ground.

People still look hesitate to do anything. I finally build up the courage to join him.

"He's right! They can block the roads, they can threaten us and try to arrest us. But there are more of us in the entire town than them!" I yell from the ground and everyone is listening.

The cop yells at me to shut up.

"Hey don't talk to her like that!" My dad yells and the officer next to him kicks him on the ground.

We hear some audible gasps from the crowd that is still building.

"They're right!" I hear a voice from the crowd.

I look up and see Barry. I'm shocked to see him at all. I pick myself up as much as I can from the ground to watch him as he approaches the front of the crowd.

"This is no way to treat us. We've stayed quiet for too long! Leave your cars. Take your things and get out! There are more ways to leave. They can't stop us and if you think you are safe going back to your homes, you're not! They're controlling our lives, clearly they don't have our best interest at heart!" Barry yells and everyone is listening intently.

"Everyone shut up and get back inside now!" Another officer further back yells through one of the megaphones.

Suddenly, a sharp bang explodes in our ears and we see the officer has shot a gun in the air. None of us have even seen a gun. The officers in our town always claimed everything was too safe to even need guns for. Society was so well behaved there was never a real need for weapons or violence.

This gun scares everyone and people start running. I think it's over, that they are running back to their homes, but soon I realize they aren't running to their houses, but running away. They are grabbing their bags and running for the woods. Some people are jumping over the gate and running straight out of the town. I look at Joey who sees this too. We get up, still in our handcufffs.

"Dad, come on!" I yell and Joey kicks the officer in his shin making him buckle over. Some people, such as Barry and others, start running over to us and helping us get away from the officers. Soon the cops are fighting with actual civilians. Barry and another man hold down an officer as someone steals a key for the handcuffs and set us free. Joey and I grab one as many of our friends and family as we can. We run back to the car to help them grab their stuff until we see a car speed past the line of cars through the crowd of officers and fighting townspeople. Everyone jumps out of the way of the speeding car and the car crashes through the gate. We all jump back in our cars and follow the car.

We make it out. We're out.

Joey and I are breathing heavy while we are speeding down the roads.

Eventually the front car pulls over and Joey and I follow, allowing the long line of us cars behind us to pull over as well.

We all get out. Everyone is quiet for a moment, everything feels so surreal. How did we pull this off? How did we save almost an entire town? I look at the people as they start calling others, probably more people still in town. I hear them telling everyone to pack a bag and run.

I look through the crowd as my parents come over to hug me. I hug them back.

I finally spot Barry in the crowd. I run over and hug him tighter than I ever have in my life. He hugs me back... thankfully.

* * *

 _ **~ Three Weeks Later ~**_

Everyone is settling in. A large portion of Greenwich followed Joey and I back to the town we were just starting to settle into. Others went traveling, exploring...who knows where. They went to live their life. My family and friends all stay with Joey and I, which I couldn't be happier about.

I'm working at the coffee shop which has now become a common place for my friends to hang out.

A lot has changed, ends up Ross's wife Carol is a lesbian and so her and Ross are getting a divorce. Phoebe ended it with her husband solely because as she says: "She's a free spirit now and needs to spread her wings."

Monica and Chandler are still together, which makes me happy that there were still some good ones matched in that god awful town.

I'm behind the counter making a fresh pot of coffee when Mindy runs over to me.

"Rach, you will never believe this, but I'm getting married!" she shrieks with pure joy.

"Oh my god Mindy! I can't believe this, who are you marrying?"

"Oh my god this amazing guy, I just met him three weeks ago. I know it's fast, but I'm telling you he's the one. He's- oh here he is now!" She exclaims and I look over to see Barry walk through the coffee shop doors. My mouth drops open.

He walks over and kisses Mindy and then smiles at me.

"Hey Rachel," he says nicely.

"Congrats you two," I smile.

They thank me and then Barry whisks Mindy away and I chuckle at the insanity of our situation.

The next face I see is the man I'm so utterly in love with - Joey.

"Hey, you getting off work?" he smiles a perfect smile at me as he leans on the counter.

"Yep, twenty minutes," I smile back.

"Good, I've missed you," he says.

This makes me laugh since we've been living together in total freedom for three weeks now and see each other all the time.

"You know what babe, you're right, I think we should really take some time to reconnect," I flash a suggestive smile at him. His smile fades for a moment and he looks at me.

"You're talking about sex right?"

"Yes," I smirk at him.

"Then, I definitely want to reconnect," he grins and leans completely over the counter to kiss me.

I kiss him back.

"Okay get out of here before you get me fired," I tease him and push him away.

"But then we'd have way more time!" he jokes.

I snicker as I grab the pot of fresh coffee and bring it over to one of my customers.

I take a moment to look over at my friends. I can't believe this is real, it's so insane we're all living so free now. Actually, it's not insane, it's perfectly normal. I hate that all of us wasted so much of our lives in a brainwashed state.

At least, we get to start our lives now, no matter how late it is.

I finally love my life... I'm finally happy.


End file.
